Hundreds of thousands of workers in both regulated and nonregulated sector at risk of facilitating tax evasion

With the Criminal Finances Act now in full force, VinciWorks has been helping businesses prepare with their new course, Tax Evasion: Failure to Prevent. The new law doesn’t just affect the regulated sector; any business that doesn’t have reasonable procedures in place to prevent facilitation of tax evasion could find themselves prosecuted.

So just how prepared are we for the Criminal Finances Act? VinciWorks surveyed over 250 UK companies with a combined workforce of around 430,000 people to find out just how much tax evasion risk companies are exposing themselves to, and if they have started to take action to mitigate those risks.
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Anti-Slavery Day

Quick start guide to compliance with the Modern Slavery Act

Tomorrow, 18th October, marks UK Anti-Slavery Day. Created by an Act of Parliament to raise awareness of the millions of men, women and children held in slavery and deprived of their basic human freedom, it can also shine a light into the slivers of progress being made to tackle modern-day slavery.

“Modern slavery is like terrorism,” said International Development Secretary Priti Patel. “If we don’t tackle the root causes, the victims will come to Europe via Libya and Italy, and those problems will manifest themselves on the streets of London.”
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Threats to cyber security

Cybersecurity Lessons (Updated 2022)

The past year has seen the highest number of cyber security breaches on record. Large reputable companies such as Tesco, Yahoo and TalkTalk have all been exposed for such breaches, with the companies facing large fines and a lack of confidence from consumers. What does this mean for us and how we keep our personal data, identity and money safe? Does this mean we are never safe? Not necessarily, but knowing how to keep your personal data and your business safe has never been more important.

5 Lessons Learned from Cybercrime & Tips to Prevent Them

We have studied some of the largest data breaches and have the following tips for preventing cyber crime.

Your favourite colour is not a safe password

Although they didn’t realise it until 2016, the Yahoo data hack actually took place in 2013. This means that for three years users were continuing to use their accounts without knowing they were at risk. So what could have prevented one billion user accounts being hacked? For a start, make sure your password is not something that can easily be guessed, such as your favourite colour or your child’s name. Further, it is best practice to change your password at least once a year. This means that if any of your accounts have been hacked you have a much higher chance of protecting your personal information. Some businesses require some of their staff to change their passwords each year for this reason.
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North Korea and USA Flag

Trade embargo essentially in effect

The Trump Administration has increased sanctions on North Korea in response to continuing nuclear tests from the rogue state. The Executive Order, signed on Thursday 21 September, effectively bans any business or person trading with any North Korean entity.

The US government can freeze any asset of any individual or business that trades in goods, services or technology with Pyongyang. Companies from sectors including banking, energy, manufacturing, textiles and fishing, as well as aircraft and ships travelling to North Korea are all included and face being banned from entry to the United States.
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Email templates are one of the most popular features in the VinciWorks learning management system. Templates enable you to customise the text and look of every email from the system down to the last detail. Many organisations recreate the exact look-and-feel of internal emails down to the graphics in a signature. Templates can include dynamic fields that are personalised to every user, such as first name, department, date of last cyber security training or any other field in the system.

All templates can “spoof” sender information, so that the emails appear to come from a colleague or manager. Carbon copied addresses can also be added.
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On Tuesday 26th September at 12:00pm, Marshalls’ modern slavery expert Richard Beale joined VinciWorks to discuss the practical aspects of modern slavery compliance and answer attendee questions. Director of Best Practice Gary Yantin began the webinar with a review of VinciWorks’ modern slavery training suite before introducing Richard.

Watch now

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Privacy Policy written on a wall

A privacy policy must set out the different areas where user privacy is concerned and outline the obligations and requirements of the users, the website and website owners. Furthermore, the way your organisation processes, stores and protects user data and information should also be detailed in a privacy policy. The policy should be made available on your organisation’s website.

What is a GDPR privacy policy?

A GDPR privacy policy is a legal document that outlines how an organisation collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR is a set of data protection regulations implemented in the EU to enhance the privacy rights of individuals and establish consistent data protection standards across the EU member states.

In a GDPR privacy policy, organisations provide transparent information about the personal data they collect, the purposes for which it is collected, how it is processed, and the legal basis for processing. The policy also covers details about data retention, data subject rights, security measures, data transfers outside the EU, and contact information for the data protection officer.

What needs to be included in a privacy policy?

Here are the main points that should be addressed in a privacy policy:

Use of the cookies

Your policy should first define what cookies are and then explain what the organisation used the cookies for. It should stress that they are used to enhance the user experience and any tracking software used should also be stated.
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Opening screen of data protection course in German
Our fully customisable data protection course is now available in German

VinciWorks’ GDPR data protection course is now available in German. The course combines the latest in policy and law with best practice guidelines. It provides real-world scenarios, interactive features and review questions to test understanding of key points. By completing this course users will learn how to comply with data protection laws for their specific role in the organisation. The online training is based on the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

German Data Protection Amendment Act

While GDPR will be coming into force across Europe on 25 May 2018, Germany has already enacted a new data protection law to prepare for the new regime. The German Data Protection Amendment Act (GDPAA) enters into force on 25 May 2018 and contains some key national differences with GDPR.
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Modern slavery child victim

Action against modern slavery is ramping up. In just the month of May 2017, the Modern Slavery Helpline dealt with nearly 200 potential victims in the UK. In the first five months of this year, 1,179 potential victims of modern slavery were identified.

Yet this number is a drop in the ocean compared to the tens of thousands of men, women and children being held as slaves right now in the UK. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 not only brought in tougher laws and sanctions against slavery, but encourages businesses to ensure they are not participating in labour abuse in their supply chains.

The Modern Slavery Act – Section 54

Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act mandates companies with an annual turnover greater than £36m publish an annual slavery and human trafficking statement. Companies with a financial year-end date of 31st December were required to produce and publish their statement by 30th June. Many still haven’t.
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VinciWorks Risk Summit
General Counsel and Heads of Risk attended VinciWorks’ first risk summit

On 12th September more than 30 senior counsel and heads of risk gathered to discuss the risk horizon at VinciWorks’ first risk summit in the Soho Hotel.

Delegates from international law firms, accountancy firms and corporates shared their insights into the issues that they hope will grab their board’s attention as they plan their risk management strategies. The event was chaired by VinciWorks CEO Howard Finger.
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